Katie Noonan - Blackbird Album Tour

Blackbird - the music of Lennon and McCartney, was recorded in New York earlier this year with the cream of veteran jazz players including Grammy award winning legendary double-bass player, Ron Carter (played with Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Cannonball Adderly, Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter), exceptional drummer Lewis Nash (played with Diana Krall, Betty Carter, Branford Marsalis, Grammy award winning reknowned saxophonist Joe Lovano (played with McCoy Tyner, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian), guitarist John Scofield (played with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock) and Melbourne-based keyboard player Sam Keevers.

Recorded in only 2 days, the Blackbird album couldn't help but be inspired by the incredible live music on offer in the Big Apple. During her four week adventure in New York, Katie caught the live brilliance of the Hank Jones Quartet, The Roy Haynes Quartet, Roberta Flack, Dr John, Eddie Henderson, the Rebecca Martin Quintet and a host of other great musicians. These experiences served to light the way towards her first Manhattan recordings.

A long-time fan of the Beatles' work, Katie decided early on to restrict her album to John Lennon and Paul McCartney compositions. "I am a great fan of George Harrison's songs, but I felt that his body of work would be more effectively represented in a separate project which I hope to record someday" revealed Katie. "For now, I thought we would be better served by sticking with the incredible Lennon-McCartney songbook."

Her Blackbird album comprises 15 songs closely associated with The Beatles. "I don't think there's a single musician on the planet who hasn't been influenced by the Beatles in some way" Katie declares with obvious sincerity. "Their songs are just perfectly formed little stories. They have the universal themes of love and friendship and communication and loneliness and passion. They contain all the themes that are still so relevant. It's hard to describe but these really are the perfect pop songs."

Following the release of the Blackbird album, Katie plans to devote six to eight months to exclusively performing the Blackbird repertoire - while she continues writing for her exciting upcoming solo album. She has confirmed a series of Blackbird album launch shows in capital cities, tickets available now.